It’s a long-gone myth now to consider aging as the biggest deathtrap for heart attacks. Every day we are waking up to unfortunate news of young people’s untimely demise due to cardiovascular diseases with an unavoidable consequence of heart attack or stroke. Not even children are spared from this fatal strike. New research shows in numbers how heart attacks have become common for millennials, especially women. If you are in your 20s or 30s and believe you have plenty of time to start thinking about your heart health check, you are probably playing close to the edge.
Heart attack symptoms don’t always announce themselves, they occur dramatically and people succumb to collapse. To spread awareness regarding the cardiovascular disease which causes more than half of all non-communicable diseases in the world, we celebrate World Heart Day. Since 2000, every year on 29 September, more than 90 countries participate to disseminate the word of good heart. Well, ‘cardiovascular disease’ refers to that large umbrella term involving narrowed or clogged up blood vessels that can lead to a heart attack or stroke.
“Harnessing the power of digital health to improve awareness, prevention, and management of CVD globally is our goal for World Heart Day 2021” – World Heart Foundation
Besides reminding us how heart attacks can take a toll on young people, World Heart Day also busts the myth that it impacts more in developed country’s citizens. As people in rich countries are reliant on technology and lead sedentary lifestyles, this fact doesn’t cut slack for the people of middle-income and low-income countries. Study shows, CVD deaths accounted for 23% of all deaths in high-income countries, 42% in middle-income countries and 43% in low-income.
Heart diseases have been wreaking havoc from time immemorial. Change is that it has found a way to affect the younger population too. Now the question arises, ain’t we the ones who have led ourselves to this vulnerable condition? The kind of lifestyle choices we make, the food intake quality we maintain, consumption of alcohol, weight management, even our daily workout plan also have a direct connection to our hearts. Dr. Vanita Arora, the senior consultant of the Cardiac Electrophysiologist and Interventional Cardiologist department in Apollo Hospitals, says, “Young people do not get any pre-cardiac checkups before starting gyming or dieting these days. The weight training they undergo in the gym can increase the thickness of the heart. Even the supplements these people take are a deadly threat to the heart, leading to arrhythmia.”
Keeping aside all these possibilities and causes of heart attacks we can always focus on how to improve our heart health. As the Dutch philosopher Desiderius Erasmus suggests, prevention is better than cure.
Prioritize your heart health
There are loads of risk factors youngsters are not aware of but are too busy to consider heart health yet. And a healthy lifestyle may keep you away from even the necessity of knowing those. A study analyzing over 55,000 people reveals practicing favorable lifestyle habits has lowered their heart disease risk by nearly 50%.
One of which is quitting smoking, the top controllable threat to heart disease. At the same time, this is the most known fact that the majority of nicotine inhalers deliberately stay ignorant of. What you breathe in and what you gulp down impact your heart health. Always focus on your middle and slim down if you are carrying extra fat around the belly area.
“Heart disease is a food-borne illness.”
— Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn
Sitting is the new smoking! Don’t spend hours on your desk, exercise, be it a little. Specially racket sports work magically to turn down heart attack risks followed by swimming, aerobics, and cycling. Check out these Cardio workouts & heart-friendly yoga asanas to boost your cardiovascular health. We tend to start physical exercises out of the blue whenever our mood suggests without any continuity, proper regime, or doctor’s suggestion. This habit will only do exactly the opposite of what a healthy workout should do to your body. Please remember, the way ill-health needs medication, steps towards a healthy lifestyle needs a prescription too.
Researchers have found the transition period between sleeping and waking up is a favorable spot for heart attacks to take place. Circadian rhythm, the body’s internal clock, maybe is the responsible one. Be extra careful with your hearts on Monday mornings.
If you are a heart patient, make sure to get a flu shot every year instead of a nasal spray vaccine. It reduces your heart attack risk. For the patients who have already had a heart attack, chew an aspirin daily.
Along with these, there are countless easy ways to prevent heart attack or stroke to start from the 20s.
Being concerned about your heart health requires some other measures to take. How many of us know the first aid of the leading cause of death for the past 20 years? Do we know what CPR is and when to perform the technique?
There is no better way than educating thyselves to observe this international awareness movement dedicated to heart health. World Heart Day advocates for every means that protects our hearts.
Let’s do our part by taking care of the heart!
